Weeder.



H. H. QUA.

WEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 1908. 5%,64, Patented May 31,1910.

WITNESSES: IN V E TOR.

w ATTORNEY.

HENRY H. QUA, 01? CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

WEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 31, 1910.

Application filed April 11, 1908. Serial No. 426,426.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, I-IENRYH. QUA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Concord, in the county of MiddleseX and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in VVeeders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to weeders or implements for weeding and thinning plants.

Said invention comprises a suitable han dle, to which is secured a loop formed of a strip or ribbon of metal which is first provided at one edge with teeth which hook from the middle of said ribbon in opposite directions toward the handle.

This implement is so constructed that it may be used to tear up weeds, removing their roots, to dig small holes for the reception of roots, to level the ground or to heap the earth around a plant as with a small hoe.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan of a weeder containing my im provement; Fig. 2, an isometric perspective view of the same; Fig. 3, a side elevation of the middle portion of the blade before it is bent into a loop; Fig. 4; is a view of the inner end of the handle with the blade broken off at the handle; Fig. 5, a plan of a part of the handle with a portion of the same in section on the line 5 5 in Fig. 4, showing in plan the end portions of the blade.

The blade A is made from a strip or ribbon of metal, preferably of steel, and is notched from the middle point a in opposite directions to form teeth a a which hook toward the ends of the strip. The extreme ends of the strip are bent at right angles or nearly so with the body of the strip on the same side of the strip, as shown at a a in Fig. 5.

The handle B is represented as cylindrical, but may be of any suitable shape, preferably circular in cross-section adapted to be grasped and held comfortably by the hand.

Two segments are removed from the handle at the inner end-portion and on opposite sides of the same, leaving two flat surfaces 1) b and at the inner ends of these flat surfaces, notches b Z2 are formed, the width of the segments or fiat surfaces being slightly greater than the width of the blade, but the inner end-portion of said handle is reduced up to the shoulder b before the flat surfaces Z2 6 are formed, to enter a ferrule C.

lVhen the end-portions of the blade A are laid upon these flat surfaces of the handle and in contact with said flat surfaces throughout their length, the outer corners a a of said end portions of the blade will lie in the curved surface of the reduced part of the handle.

Before the blade is applied to the handle as above indicated a metallic ferrule C is passed over the ends of the blade and said ends are applied to the fiat surfaces 6 b with the bent portions a a in the notches b Z2 and the ferrule is then crowded over the reduced end of the handle up to said shoulder Z) and retains said bent portions in said notches. At the same time the sides of the blade beyond the ferrule spring apart and prevent the ferrule from slipping off from the handle toward the blade, the ferrule being held from movement in the other direction by the shoulder at 6*.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of a handle and a blade secured thereto, said blade consisting of a loop-shaped strip of metal having teeth inclined in opposite directions from the middle of said loop toward said handle.

2. The combination of a handle having a reduced inner end and external parallel fiattened inner end -portions, provided with notches, a blade consisting of a loop-shaped strip of metal, having ends bent toward each other and arranged in said notches, and a ferrule surrounding said reduced end and flattened portions of said handle and in contact with the end-portions of said blade.

3. The combination of a handle having parallel flattened inner end-portions and provided with notches, a blade consisting of a loop-shaped strip of metal having ends bent toward each other and arranged in said notches, and a ferrule surrounding the fiattened portions of said handle and the ends of said blade, said blade having teeth inclined in opposite directions from the middle of said blade toward said handle.

In witness whereof, I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY H. QUA.

' IVitnesses ALBERT M. MOORE, GRACE CROWLEY. 

